Electric deicers have been used in livestock water tanks to keep ice from forming during winter months. If deicers were not used, ice would form in the water tanks, thereby preventing livestock from drinking the water within the tanks.
Recently, plastic stock tanks have been used, in place of metal tanks. The use of plastic stock tanks, however, posed a risk in that the heating element of a deicer could directly abut an interior wall of the tank and melt or ignite the plastic.
Accordingly, typical deicing systems secured a wireframe guard to the deicer. The guard ensures that the heating element is disposed away from the plastic walls of the deicer.
FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of a conventional deicing system 10. The deicing system 10 includes a main deicer body 12 attached to a heating element 14, such as a caloric heating rod. The ends of the heating element 14 may enter the main body 12 (although the ends are not shown for the sake of clarity). A strap 16, such as a copper strap, may be soldered to the heating element 14 to provide thermal feedback. As noted above, the heating element 14 is suspended or otherwise positioned away from a base or walls of a tank 15 through a wire-frame guard 18. As shown in FIG. 1, the guard 18 has a base 20 integrally formed with braces 22, which, in turn, integrally connect to a cross-beam 24. The base 20 is substantially wider than the heating element 14, thereby ensuring that the heating element 14 does not abut side walls of a tank 15. Moreover, the braces 22 suspend the heating element 14 above a lower basin wall of the tank 15, thereby preventing the heating element 14 from abutting the lower basin wall. Additionally, the braces 22 may connect to the cross-beam 24 through bent portions 26 that recess the cross-beam 24 below the top portions of the braces 22, thereby providing a physical shield between the heating element 14 and side walls of the tank 15.
A heating element 14 in the form of a caloric rod (calrod) may be bent into various shapes to make it more compact. For a guard 18 to be attached to the calrod, a metallic or other such heat-resistant material clamp is typically used. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in order to secure the guard 18 to the heating element 14, a bracket 28 and separate and distinct fasteners 30, such as screws, are used. The brackets 28 and fasteners 30 securely fasten the heating element 14 to the cross-beam 24 of the guard wire 18.
FIG. 2 illustrates an isometric view of a conventional clamp assembly. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bracket 28 is configured to clamp around the heating element 14 and securely fasten to the cross-beam 24 through fasteners, such as screws 30 and nuts 32.
As shown in FIG. 2, in particular, the clamping bracket assembly includes various separate and distinct components. Each component, including the bracket 28, screws 30, and nuts 32, is typically sealed in a bag. Further, the cost of the components may be relatively high in relation to their purposes. Additionally, the bracket 28 may be awkward and difficult to attach and the small screws 30 and nuts 32 are easy to lose.